Door opening and closing device



Dec. 15, 1959 Filed April' 4, 1958 F. FLEEKQP AL 2,917,306

DOOR OPENING AND CLOSING DEVICE 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 L54 WWKG Dec. 15, 1959 FLEEKOP ETAL 2,917,306

DOOR OPENING AND CLOSING DEVICE FilQd April 4, 1958 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Dec. 15, 1959 F. FLEEKOPH ETAL 2,917,306

nooa opsuma AND CLOSING DEVICE I Filed April 4, 1958 4 She ets-Sheet s ez J2 )a 3'0 INVENTORS.

JAMES ,4; 59/775 Dec. 15, 1959 v F. FLEEKOP ETAL 2,917,306

DOOR OPENING AND CLOSING DEVICE Filed April 4, 1958 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 zz a BY F 0 the loss of refrigeration. 1

United States Patent 2,917,306 noon OPENING AND CLOSING nnvrcn Fred Fleekop, Jenkintown, and James A. Fritts', Philadelphia, Pa., assignors to IF. and J. .Company, Inc., Philadelphia, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania f Application April 4, 1958, Serial No. 726,416

, I 6 Claims. (Cl. 268-66) In commercial establishments relatively large walkin refrigerators are used for storing meats and other products. Because these products are taken into, vand are removed from, the refrigerators, in relatively large quantities, push carts or small, motor driven trucks are used and, therefore, such refrigerators have relatively large and-heavy doors. To open and close thedoors of walk-in refrigerators by hand involves stopping the .truck at a distance from the door sufficient to permit the door to swing-open, seeing that the door remains open while the truck is moved into the refrigerator and immediately after entering the refrigerator, the operator must again.

.stop the truck and go back to close the door. Because this is done many times every day, th e'waste in time and effort and the loss of refrigeration are considerable.

It is, therefore, one object of this invention to produce means for automatically opening thedoor of a walkdoor.

A further object is to produce a device of this type 2,917,306 Patented Dec. 15,

ice

open and close the door, but the-length of such a cylinder will be related to the width of thedoor. Therefore, while a single cylinder is practical for a small door, it-will-be objectionably long when used on a door large enough for a loaded truck to pass through. r

:It is, therefore, a still further object of this invention to produce a door opening and'closing device in which 'a relatively short cylinder can'open, or close, a verywide which opens and closes the door very rapidly so as to eliminate waiting on the part of an operator who is about to enter, or to leave and so as to reduce the time during which the door remains open and thereby to reduce truck, or other vehicle and to safeguard against anyone being ,locked in the refrigerator 'due to failure of the automatic door opening and closing mechanism.

It is possible to use one hydraulically, orupneumatica'l- 1y, operated device, such as ;an air cylinder, ,for opening the door and another air'cylinder for closing the door,

and while such an arrangement is operative, =it iinvolves duplication of equipment.

It is, therefore, a still further object of the invention to produce a hydraulically, or pneumatically, operated device which is actuated .by'a single, double acting cylin- ,der which is so arranged that the movement of the piston outwardly of the cylinder in one direction moves the door to .a partly opened position and in which .the return movement of the piston .moves the .door .to the full open position and vice 'versa. In other words, one reciprocationof the piston relative to thecylinderopens the door and resets the mechanism for closing the door and a subsequent reciprocation of the piston closes .the vdoor and resets the mechanism ,for reopening the door and so .on.

,A still further object of the invention is .to produce amechanism of the type set forth for opening and closing the .door with a continuous motion, that is, without any interruption at the point at which the direction of movement of the piston of the :cylinder is reversed.

It is also possible to use a single cylinder which will .door. According to this'invention, the parts are so arranged and proportioned that one relativelyshort strdke of :the cylinder, "that is, the movement of the piston of "said cylinder in one diretcion, willmove the door 'in opening, or in closing, direction, to an over-center, "or slightly more than a 45 angle, and wherebyreturn movementxof the piston will complete the opening, or closing, of the door, as the case'may be, whereby a cylinder-can :be .used, the stroke of which is substantially half of that :which would be needed ifone stroke of the piston in said cylinder is relied on for complete opening or for complete closing of the door.

The full nature of the invention will be understood from the following specification and the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a reduced, fragmentary, perspective view showing a door opening and closing device embodying the invention and diagrammatically showing the location of the various parts of the device relative to the door.

Fig. .2 is an enlarged, perspective view looking in the direction of ,line 22 on Fig. l.-

Fig. 3 .is a View looking in the direction of line 3 3 on.Fig. 2.

Fig. 4is similar to ':Fig. 3 but showing the door in the partly opened position which it assumes when the piston is moved outwardly relative to the air cylinder.

Fig. Sis similar to Fig. 4 but showing the door in the full opened position which results when the piston is reitracted into the air cylinder as shown in Figs. 3 and ,Fig. 6 is similar to Fig. 4, but showing the door as ha-ving moved toward the closing position due to a second movement of the piston outwardly of the cylinder and it will be understood that, when the piston is again retracted into the cylinder, the door will move to the full closed position on Fig. .3.

Fig. 7 is an enlarged view showing details" :struction. g a

A door opening and closing device embodying my' invention includes a bracket or plate '10 which is secured to the upper sill 12 of'the frame of a door 14 which is hinged at '15. Plate-'10 rigidly carries :a horizontally projecting yoke 16 to which is pivoted, as at 18, an arm 20. Theinner portion of arm 20 is benttoform anelbow .22 which positions .arm 20 for operation .in'the manner hereinafter set forth. The upper end of arm 20 is provided with a pendent extension 24 which is detachably, but rigidly, secured as at 26. The free end of arm 20 carries a stud, or the like, to which is pivoted, as at of con- -32, an arm 34 which is pivotally connected, as at '36, to 7 one .end of an angle 38 and the other end of which is secured, as at '40 .to door 14.

Pendent arm 24 is pivotally connected, as at 42, to the outer end of piston rod .44 which is reciprocable relative to cylinder 46. Cylinder 46 is pivotally connected, ..as.at 48, to a clevis 50 which is rigidly secured to plate 10. Cylinder 46 is adapted to receive fluid under pressure through pipe 52 which leads to the inner end of the cylinder or through pipe 54 which leads to the outer end of the cylinder. The supply of fluid to pipe 52 or to pipe 54 is controlled 'by a four-way, solenoid-controlled valve 56 which is euergizedby wires 58 which are suitably connected to a source of current. Wires 58 are-connected :to switch 60 which is located near .door 14 goutside of the walk-in refrigerator, and to switch 62 which is located near door 14 inside the walk-in refrigerator. In Fig. 1, switches 60 and 62 are shown as mounted on pedestals 64 which are so located as to be accessible to the driver of a truck going into, or coming out of the refrigerator. This arrangement is notcontrolling because the switches can be located on adjacent walls or could be operated by overhead pull chains. Multiway valve 56 is permanently connected to a source of fluid under pressure and the function of the switches 60 and 62 is merely to determine which side of the piston is subjected to fluid pressure. In other words, when the door is opened, there will be fluid under pressure on the corre- '68 whenever arm 20 assumes, or passes the position shown in Fig. 4.

The operation is as follows:

An operator approaching in the direction of arrow 70 in Fig. 1, closes switch 60. This actuates valve 56 in a manner toadmit air to the inner end of the cylinder, or through pipe 52, to move piston rod 44 from the position of Fig. 2 to the position of Fig. 4 in which door 14 is partly open. In this position of the parts, finger 66 on lever20 closes normally open switch 68 to energize valve 56 in a manner to exhaust air from the inner end of the cylinder and to admit air to the outer end of the cylinder through pipe 54 to push piston rod 44 back into cylinder 46. This movement of piston rod 44 causes the door to move to the full open position, as shown in Fig. 5. It will be noted that because, in the position of Fig. 4, a line passing through the axes of pivots 32 and 36 and through the axis of the hinge 15 of the door will be to the right of pivot 42, movement of piston 44 back into the cylinder causes arm 34 and door 14 to move further to the right, as viewed in Fig. 4, or to its full open position, as shown in Fig. 5. Conversely, when air is admitted to the inner .end of the cylinder, as viewed in Fig. 5, outward movement of piston 44 moves arm 34 and door 14 from the full open position of Fig. 5, to the partly closed position of Fig. 6. It will be noted that, in this position of the parts, a line passing through the axes of pivots 36 and 42 and through the axis of hinge 15, will be to the left of pivot 32 and, therefore, movement of piston 44 back into the cylinder, will move arm 34 and door 14 to the left as viewed in Fig. 6, or back to the full closed position of Fig. 3. 7

When the parts are in the position shown in Fig. 2, the door is in the fully opened, or in the fully closed position,-and switches 60, 62 and 68 are in their open, or off, positions. In this position, there will be fluid under pres sure in one side of the cylinder or other so as to hold the door in fully open or in fully closed position. As above stated, this does not prevent. opening of the door by hand.

Some doors swing to the ring with reference to a person facing the door, and others swing to the left, and by detachably securing arm 24 to arm 20, as by bolts 26, the entire mechanism can be reversed so that the same device can be used to open a right or a left hand door.

It will'be noted that the door opening and closing device also acts as a door check in that it will hold the door 'in the fully open or in the fully closed position without or any other extraneous deaemsoe 4 or more than 45 in opening direction so that movement of the piston rod from the position of Fig. 4 to the position of Fig. 5 will cause the door to move to the full open position instead of in closing direction, as would otherwise be the case. The same, of course, is true, but in reverse, when the door moves from full open to full closing position.

Since the movements above described are functions respectivelypf the loci of the various pivots, and in order to enable anyone to duplicate the mechanism without exercising any special skill and without experimentation, we give below the working dimensions and relations of the parts, it being understood that the example below given is illustrative and not delimitive of the invention and that any proportional duplication of the apparatus will be fully operative.

Thus, if the distance between the axes of pivots 18 and 32, is 20 /2"; the distance between the axes of pivots 18 and 42, with the door in fully closed position will be 17 /2"; the distance between the axis of pivot 42 and the axis of rotation of lever 20, measured along a line passing through the axis of pivot 42 and normal to the axis of lever 20, will be 6"; the distance between the axes of pivots 36 and 32 will be 20 /2"; the distance between pivots 48 and 42, with the door in fully closed position, will be 13''; the distance between the axis of pivot 48 and the axis of hinge 15 will be 18 /8"; and the distance between the axis of pivot 36 and the axis of hinge 15 will be 16''. -In other words, any device built within working tolerances of the dimensions set forth, or any scaled equivalent thereof, will operate as described.

While we have described the device, as applied to the opening and closing of the door of a walk-in refrigerator, it is obvious that our invention resides in the parts, their .relationship and their proportions as above disclosed and that the device has application in other fields.

What we claim is:

l. A device for automatically opening and closing a door of the type which is mounted on a door frame by meansof a hinge, said device including a cylinder, a piston in said cylinder, a piston rod having one end thereof connected to said piston and having its other end projecting from said cylinder, a first pivot means 48 pivotally securing one end of said cylinder to said door frame whereby the cylinder is disposed above and substantially horizontally across the path of the rotation of said door about the axis of said hinge, a lever, 28 a second pivot means 18 securing one end of said lever to said door frame whereby said lever is also disposed above and substantially horizontally across the path of rotation of said door, an arm 34, a third pivot means 36 pivotally securing one end of said arm to the adjacent end of said door whereby said arm is also disposed above and substantially horizontally across the path of rotation of said door, a fourth pivot means 32 pivotally securing the other end of said arm (34) to the other end of said lever, (20) a finger (24) carried by said lever intermediate its ends, a fifth pivot means 42 pivotally securing the outer end of said piston rod to the adjacent end of said finger, the relation of said pivot means and the lengths of said lever and said arm being such that: when said piston rod is moved outwardly of said cylinder said fifth pivot means (42) moves in a direction to rotate said door through an angle in excess of 45 and so that, when said piston rod moves in wardly of said cylinder, said fifth (42) pivot means will move in the opposite direction and said door will move in the same direction through an angle not in excess of 45.

2. A device for automatically opening and closing a door of the type which is mounted on a door frame by means of a hinge, said device including a cylinder, a piston in said cylinder, a piston rod having one end thereof connected to said piston and having its other end projecting from said cylinder, a first pivot means 48 pivotally .securing one end of said cylinder to said door frame whereby the cylinder is disposed substantially horizontally across the path of rotation of said door about the axis of said hinge, a lever, a second pivot means 18 securing one end of said lever to said door frame whereby said lever is also disposed substantially horizontally across the path of rotation of said door, an arm, a third pivot means 36 pivotally securing one end of said arm to the adjacent end of said door whereby said arm is also disposed substantially hon'zontally across the path of rotation of said door, a fourth pivot means 32 pivotally securing the other end of said arm to the other end of said lever, a finger carried by said lever intermediate its ends, a fifth pivot means 42 pivotally securing the outer end of said piston rod to the adjacent end of said finger, the relation of said pivot means and the lengths of said lever and said arm being such that, if the distance between the second pivot means and fourth pivot means is substantially 20 the distance between said fourth pivot means and the third pivot means will be substantially 20 /2"; the distance between said third pivot means and said hinge will be 16"; the distance between said hinge and the first pivot means will be 18"; the distance between said first pivot means and the fifth pivot means will be 13"; and the distance between said fifth pivot means and an axis connecting said second and fourth pivot means will be 6", whereby, when said piston rod is moved outwardly of said cylinder, said fifth pivot means will move in door opening direction to an over center position, and whereby movement of said piston rod back into said cylinder will move said fifth pivot means in (42) door opening direction to a position in which it forms an angle of substantially 90 with the plane of the door opening and vice versa, and actuating means for controllably reciprocating said piston rod to open said door and for controllably reciproacting said piston rod to close said door.

3. The structure recited in claim 1 in which said actuating means includes a valve for controllably connecting said cylinder with a source of fluid under pressure and means for controllably activating and deactivating said valve.

4. The structure recited in claim 1 in which said actuating means includes an electrically operated valve and switch means for activating and deactivating said valve.

5. The structure recited in claim 3 in which said switch means includes a first switch spaced from one side of said door, and a second switch spaced from the other side of said door, and an electric circuit including said switches and said valve.

6. The structure recited in claim 1 in which said actuating means includes a valve movable to a first position in which it supplies fluid under pressure to one side of said piston to move said piston rod outwardly of said cylinder and to a second position in which it exhausts said fluid from said cylinder and supplies fluid under pressure to the other side of said piston to push said piston rod back into said cylinder, and vire versa, and switch means for alternately moving said valve to either of its positions.

References Cited in the fileof this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,037,267 Knight Sept. 3, 1912 1,859,364 Haskell May 24, 1932 2,113,291 Clark et a1. Apr. 5, 1938 2,550,349 Helz Apr. 24, 1951 

